Serious human rights breaches occurred in more than 50 countries in past year, says UN

Gross violations of human rights and atrocities, including illegal killings of demonstrators, were carried out in many countries around the world from March 2010 to the end of April 2011, says a report by Christof Heyns, the United Nations’ independent expert on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions.

Professor Heyns’s report says that in some cases authorities failed to provide medical treatment urgently needed by people in custody, carry out postmortem examinations, or provide details of any investigations.

The report, presented last week to the UN Human Rights Council, documents serious breaches in more than 50 …